The deposed current Royal House of Bulgaria, contrary to common misconceptions, and despite of the country having spent half a millennium under the Ottoman Empire, descends from earlier monarchs of Bulgaria, both the First Bulgarian Empire and the Second Bulgarian Empire. Scholars have traced several bloodlines in ancestry of tsar Ferdinand I of Bulgaria (1861-1948) and his wife Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma (1870-99), progenitors of the present royal family. The main pedigree (below) has been presented by genealogists to show sort of a continuous line through various Bulgarian states and to highlight the dynasty of their successors.
Through a number of genealogical lines, the Royal Family of Bulgaria descends from
- Maria of the First Bulgarian Empire, granddaughter of Tsar Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria, a member of the Comitopuli family, and
- Tsars Ivan Asen III of Bulgaria, Mitso Asen of Bulgaria, Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria and ultimately from Ivan Asen I of Bulgaria, himself one of the brothers who founded the Second Bulgarian Empire.
Pedigree[]
generations numbered:
2) Tsar Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria m Marija
3) Troian of Bulgaria
4) Maria of Bulgaria m Andronikos Doukas
5) Eirene Doukaina m Emperor Alexius I
6) Theodora Komnene porphyrogenita m Konstantinos Angelos
7) Andronikos Angelos m Euphrosyne Kastamonitissa
8) Alexios III Angelos m Euphrosyne Doukaina Kamatera
9) Eirene Komnene Angelina m Aleksios Komnenos Palaiologos
10) Theodora Palaiologina m Andronikos Doukas Komnenos Palaiologos
11) Michael VIII Palaiologos m Theodora Doukaina Komnena Palaiologina, granddaughter of Dux of Thrakesion (she also descends from Maria, through John II Komnenos and Piroska of Hungary, daughter of Ladislaus I of Hungary the Saint)
12) Irina of Constantinople, Tsarina of Bulgaria m Tsar Ivan Asen III of Bulgaria, maternal grandson of Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria (10th generation), himself son of Ivan Asen I of Bulgaria (9th generation)
13) Andronikos Palaiologos Asanes, Despot of Morea, Governor of Thrace m Doukaina Glabaina Tarchaneiotissa
14) Eirene Asanina m John VI Kantakouzenos
15) Matthew Kantakouzenos, co-emperor of New Rome m Eirene Palaiologina
16) Demetrios Palaiologos Kantakouzenos, sebastokrator, Despot of Morea
17) Jerina Kantakuzina (Eirene Kantakouzene) m George, Overlord of Rascia
18) Stephen III, of Rascia, blind, canonized as saint, m Angelina Arianiti from Albanian dynasty
19) Maria of Rascia (Maria Kantakouzene) m Boniface III (Bonifatios Palaiologos), great-great-grandson of Theodoros Palaiologos, 1st Paleologue Lord of Montferrat, himself grandson of Emperor Michael VIII and Theodora Doukaina Batatzaina of Thrakesion
20) Lazar William IX (William "Second Lazar" Palaiologos) m Anne of Alencon, descendant of Zayhan of Kuni, khan of Cumans
21) Margaret of Montferrat (Margarita Palaiologina) m Duke Frederick II
22) William I, Gonzaga Mantua, m Eleanor, daughter of Ferdinand I and Anna of Bohemia
23) Vincent I m Eleanor of Tuscany
24) Francis IV m Margaret of Savoy
25) Maria m Charles de Gonzague, great-grandson of Margaret of Montferrat
26) Eleanor of Mantua m Ferdinand III
27) Eleanor Maria of Austria, Queen of Poland m Charles V
28) Leopold and Duke of Teschen m Elisabeth of Orleans
29) Francis I m Maria Theresa of Austria
30) Maria Carolina of Austria m Ferdinand I of Two Sicilies, himself a descendant of Margaret of Montferrat
31) Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies m Louis-Philippe I of France, himself descendant of Margaret of Montferrat through her younger son, the first Gonzague Duke of Nevers.
32) Clementina of France m August of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha of Kohary (a magnate of Hungary, himself a descendant of the Zrinski of Croatia and thus of Ivan Asen II, see below)
33) Ferdinand I of Bulgaria, Prince of Kohary m Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma, herself descendant of Emperor Francis I
34) Boris III of Bulgaria m Giovanna of Savoy, daughter of Elena of Montenegro - the Savoy are descendants of several lines from Byzantine emperors and thus Bulgarian tsars.
35) Simeon II of Bulgaria m Margarita Gomez-Acebo y Cejuela
Through Palatines of Hungary to Kohary[]
The Asen brothers, Todor and Ivan, of , founded the Second Bulgarian Empire, at that time West Moesia, after almost two centuries of Byzantine yoke over the Bulgarians.
Another line from Tsars of both the first and the second Empires goes through lords of southern borders of medieval Hungary - when the nuclear Serbian Kingdom of Rascia was lost to Ottoman Turkish in c 1460, Jovan, a son of princely Brankovici house, received so-called Raitzen lands for emigrated Serbians to settle and govern in Danube valley (near the lost Vidin) as fief from the Hungarian throne.
(as above: 1) Ivan Asen I of Bulgaria, one of the founders of Second Bulgarian Empire
2) Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria m Eirene Komnene Angelina, daughter of Theodoros of Epirus
3) Maria of Bulgaria, m tsar Mico Asen of Bulgaria
4) Ivan Asen III of Bulgaria m Eirene Palaiologina, daughter of Emperor Michael VIII, herself descendant of Maria of the First Bulgarian Empire
5) Andronikos Palaiologos Asanes
6) Eirene Asanina m Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos
7) Matthew Kantakouzenos, co-emperor
8) Demetrios Palaiologos Kantakouzenos
9) Eirene Kantakouzene m Djuradj Vukovic Brankovici
10) Stephen Brankovici, saint) whose son Jovan, born of Albanian heiress Angelina:)
11) Jovan Brankovic, Prince of Raitzen, Prince of Syrmia
12) Marija Brankovic m Ferdinand Frankopan, lord of Modrus, ban of Croatia
13) Catherine Frangipani (Katalin Frankopan) m Nikola Subic Zrinski (Miklos Zrinyi the elder)
14) Catherine Zrinski (Katalin Zrinyi) m Ferenc Thurzo de Bethlenfalva
15) Gyorgy Thurzo de Bethlenfalva, Palatin of Hungary
16) Judith de Thurzo-Bethlenfalva m Andreas Jakusith de Orbova
17) Emerich Jakusith de Orbova the elder
18) Emerich Jakusith de Orbova the younger
19) Maria Polixena Josefa Jakusith de Orbova m Albert Ludwig Thavonat von Thavon
20) Margaret Maria Theresa Thavonat von Thavon m Andras Joszef, Count of Kohary
21) Ignaz Joszef, Count of Kohary
22) (Ferenc) Joszef, Prince of Kohary of Csabrag and Szitnya m Maria Antonia Valdŝtejna z Vartemberka (from Bohemia, another descendant of Katalin Frankopan and Miklos Zrinyi through their youngest daughter Borbala Zrinyi)
23) Antonie de Kohary m Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
24) August of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Prince of Kohary m Clementine of France
25) Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha of Kohary m Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma
26) Boris III of Bulgaria m Giovanna of Savoy, daughter of Elena of Montenegro
through Counts of Tenda[]
Asen brothers Todor and Ivan, ]] Moesia, after almost two centuries of Byzantine yoke over the Bulgarians.
2) Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria m (Ana) Maria of Hungary, daughter of Andrew II of Hungary
3) Elena of Bulgaria m Emperor Theodore II of Nicea (Theodoros Doukas Batatzes), a descendant of Maria of the First Bulgarian Empire
4) Eudokia Laskarina m Guillaume Pierre de Vintimille, Count of Tenda
5) Ioannes Laskaris, Count of Ventimiglia and Tenda
6) Guillaume Pierre II of Tenda and Vintimille
7) daughter m Pietro Balbi, Count of Tenda iure uxoris
8) Antonios Laskaris, Count of Tenda
9) Honorios Laskaris, Count of Tenda
10) Ioannes Antonios Laskaris, Count of Tenda
11) Anna Laskarina, Countess of Tenda m René de Savoie, Count of Villars, batard de Savoie, descendant of Maria Komnene, Queen of Jerusalem, a descendant of Maria of Bulgaria.
12) Honorios of Savoy, Marquess of Villars, Count of Tenda
13) Henrietta of Savoy, Marchioness of Villars m Charles de Lorraine de Guise, duc de Mayenne
14) Catherine of Lorraine-Guise m Charles Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers was as Charles I (descendant of the Palaiologos Marquesses of Montferrat, see above)
15) Anne de Gonzague-Nevers-Mantoue m Edward and Rhine
16) Anne Henriette Julie of the Palatinate m Henri Jules de Bourbon-Condé, descendant of the daughter of Anna Laskarina and Rene de Savoie
17) Louis III
18) Louise Elisabeth de Bourbon-Condé m Louis Armand II, descendant of the daughter of Anna Laskarina and Rene de Savoie
19) Louise Henriette de Bourbon-Conti m Louis Philippe
20) Louis Philippe Joseph, Duke of Orleans m Louise Marie Adelaide de Bourbon-Penthievre, herself daughter of Louis Jean de Bourbon, Duke of Penthievre and Maria Theresa Felicitas of Este of Modena (she descended from the Gonzague too)
21) Louis-Philippe, King of the French (m Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies the aforementioned), whose daughter Clementine of Orléans was the mother of Ferdinand I of Bulgaria (thus Ferdinand is the 23rd generation from founding of the Second Empire), as presented above.
and the line from counts of Tenda to Marie Louise:
15) Anne of Gonzaga-Nevers-Mantua (above) m Edward and the Rhine
16) Benedikte Henriette of Palatinate m John Frederick, Duke of Brunswick-Calenberg
17) Wilhelmina Amalia of Brunswick m Emperor Joseph I
18) Maria Josepha of Austria, queen of Poland m August III of Poland
19) Maria Amalia of Poland m Charles III of Spain
20) Maria Ludovica of Spain m Emperor Leopold II
21) Archduke Charles of Austria
22) Maria Teresia of Austria-Teschen m Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies
23) Maria Pia of Bourbon-Sicily m Robert
24) Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma (m Ferdinand I of Bulgaria) became Princess-Consort of Bulgaria and mother of Boris III.
through Byzantine family of Doukas and imperial Greek descent[]
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